Abstract

Objective: To know the presenting clinical features of intussusception in children up-to the age of twelveyears.Material and Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Paediatric Surgery, Post-Graduate Medical Institute, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, over a period of 18 months. A total of 71patients with diagnosed intussusception were included. The relevant data, both pre-operative and postoperative,of children who were operated for intestinal obstruction and finally turned out to be sufferingfrom intussusception, was fed into a pre-designed proforma and the information so obtained was analyzedaccording to objectives of the study.Results: The common presenting features were colicky abdominal pain in 70 (98.59%) cases, vomiting in67 (94.36%) cases, abdominal distension in 67 (94.36%) cases, constipation in 63 (88.73%) cases,bleeding per rectum in 61 (85.91%) cases, palpable mass per abdomen in 56 (78.87%) cases and fever in18 (25.35%) cases. In 11 (15.49%) cases there was a mass palpable per digital rectal examination and 05(07.04%) patients had diarrhoea on presentation.Conclusion: Colicky abdominal pain, vomiting, abdominal distention, constipation, bleeding per rectum,palpable mass per abdomen are the commonest presenting clinical features of intussusception in children